One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant sorrel is to consult the USDA zone info for Rockford.

Planting Calendar for Sorrel

Frost tolerance for sorrel:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since sorrel are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sorrel in Rockford is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sorrel and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your sorrel may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your sorrel indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rockford. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rockford and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Rockford it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your sorrel in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rockford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rockford

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rockford.